Rating: 
Summary: They're home at last!
Review: The long awaited sequel to Jean Auel's "Plains of Passage" brings our intrepid neolithic friends of 35,000 years past, Ayla and Jondalar, their horses, "Whinny" and "Racer," and "Wolf," their wolf (what else)into Southern France and home to meet Jondalar's Zealandonii extended family, the Ninth Cave, along with the future mother-in-law. The book is stolen by Zolena, the lovely older woman who introduced the pubescent Jondalar to "first rites," who has now become the Reubenesque (and then some) Zealandoni, the First of those Called to Serve the Mother, a shaman/healer. Some old bitternesses Jondalar left behind him are rekindled (one vindictive, jilted-at-the-altar girlfriend) and the growing problem of Cro-Magon/Neandertal cultural conflict and interspecies breeding is explored. The discoveries Ayla and Jondalar have made in the Black Sea region and during their return trip along the Danube River Valley have immediate impacts on the Zealandonii. Spear throwers, fire stones and and improved methods of processing natural resources all find rapid acceptance. The reaction of the Zealandoni to the tame horses and wolf offer many points of humor. Ayla and Jondalar return to be joined in a formal mating ceremony. Ayla is already with child and Whinny is with foal -- even Wolf finds some romantic interest -- but then it is FRANCE! What can you expect in the land of romance. The love and acceptance Ayla finds is heartwarming as is her ability to contribute her healing skills, first to the benefit of the Ninth Cave and later to the entire Zealandonii tribe at their summer camp meeting. Mrs. Auel's lovely writing carries the reader swiftly through the 741 pages and one finds himself finished but eager for the next volume. Ayla is a member of the cave, has a husband, is soon to become a mother, but finds herself struggling with an invitation to become acolyte to the Zealandoni. Much of the book revolves around getting Ayla to realize she has been called to serve the Mother, perhaps moreso than many. As usual Mrs. Auel's research into probable life styles 35,000 years ago is impecible, and if she has erred anywhere, it is in the interest of bettering an already excellent story. Brava, Jean. Brava, Ayla. Give us more of the same in the next volume, we love it!
Rating: 
Summary: Worth reading for fans but not as good as previous books
Review: ...The story has good continuity with previous books but is a bit heavy on description of landscape and review of first four books. I enjoyed Shelters of Stone...If you're not a big fan, you can wait till it comes out in paperback.
Rating:
Summary: A Mixed Review
Review: When I purchased SoS I expected to sit down and read it through in a single sitting, dragging myself away for potty and food breaks. Instead it took me 3 days to read, and whenever I put it down for a break I had little interest in picking it up again right away.I am disappointed. It's not a bad book, but Ms Auel's earlier problems, going *too* far into the descriptions of everything, is magnified in SoS. There is just so much a person can take. She spends *pages* at a time just telling about simple things like how a valley is laid out in great detail. I found myself scanning until something happens again, skipping paragraphs and even pages. SoS is a 750 page book that should have been done in 400. My biggest complaint is the number of times she repeats herself in explaining the important points from the earlier books. For example: every time Ayla is asked about how she got the horses, Ms Auel repeats several paragraphs that could have been cut and paste. She could have simply written "Ayla sighed and retold the story again" and spared the readers. OK, I admit I love reading again about Ayla and Jondalar. The only thing that kept me reading was that it *was* Ayla and Jondalar. There are still good, and even great points to SoS. I was happy to see less of her trademark descriptive sex and more emotional relationships. Zelandoni is a truely great character and the newly introduced cast of the Zelandonii are convincing as people. When the storyline does finally emerge from the endless descriptives it seems that rather than a story in itself, Shelters of Stone ties up a few loose threads from Plains of Passage and sets up Book 6. This isn't much of a suprise, since Ms Auel has been writing Book 6 at the same time she wrote SoS. When Book 6 is finally written, I hope that since Ms Auel has pretty much described everything within miles of the 9th Cave of the Zelandonii that she will relax and stop repeating herself. It seems she has set up Book 6 to be an excellent climax to the series.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointment after the long wait
Review: After waiting all this time for the Shelters of Stone to be released, I rushed out to get my copy full of anticipation of another fascinating weekend read. I ploughed through the book to the end, only to be really disappointed. Instead of a brief synopsis of the previous books, Jean refers constantly to them throughout the text. I'm assuming that anyone who buys Shelters of Stone is an avid Auel fan and will therefore have read the first four books several times.
I found no new plots, story lines or snippets that we have not read in one of the other parts of the series. The constant reuse of all the title names of the members of the group became very tedious and I started skipping them !
There is hardly even any build up of tension at the end to make the wait for the last book nail biting !
I just hope that the final episode will be worth the wait.
Rating:
Summary: Waiting Twelve Years For Disappointment
Review: I was so disappointed and bored with this book. So many passages are repeated and so much that I wanted to scream! I felt the book was so dry it could have fell apart in my hands. The other books in the series had life, adventure, and character personality that drew the reader in. Not so here. She fills the pages with boring detailed landscape descriptions that made me want to cry! I thought if I had to read through one more repeated "formal introduction" or sexual encounter between Ayla and Jondalar that she reused and reused through the book I would cry. I truly feel she threw this nonsense together to take monetary advantage of those of us who had enjoyed the first books. I really expected better. What a waste of my money and time.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth waiting for?
Review: Definitely! It took me 2 days to read and I loved almost every minute, I found some of the harking back to previous books a little tedious, but then,I reread them just before "Shelters" was released so I didn't need my memory jogged. A good book to catch up with "the story so far" and lead in to the sixth and last. I wouldn't have missed it.
Rating:
Summary: My opion of the shelters of stone
Review: This was a very interesting book, mabye not quite as good as the rest but it makes you look forward to the last book in the series. This is my favorite series and i think everyone should read it because it is informative as well as interesting, ive learned alot from these books that i never would have, but ive also enjoyed them more than anything ive ever read before.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read :)
Review: I finished the book last night and it is excellent. It does help if you know the other four books before it, but Jean does explain the background of alot of situations throughout the book. Welcoming Jondular home and getting to know his family is excellent.....Ayla fits in quite well despite her differences. The book brings you through her pregnancy, their mating, the birth, and also the birth of the new baby for Whinney. Even wolf makes a friend fo his own kind too. Lots of new chartacters to get to know...... makes me look forward to a more careful second reading. And yes there is sharing of Pleasures for Ayla and Jondular, not as many as I thought there would be for such a big book.... but the ones there are excellent and well done ;) Even the characters that do not get along with Ayla and her background get you into the book and wanting more. Ayla and Jondular are back and enjoy it!!!
Rating:
Summary: Great Reading On Amazon.
Review: The detail, the panorama, and the story are wonderful. I had anticipated this book and the its release with joy after over a decade. I wasn't disappointed in the least. You'll love this book if you are a fan. I am now anticipating the 6th and final book in the series and wonder how long that one will take. ...
Rating:
Summary: Too many pages, so little time
Review: Unlike the first 4, I can "live" without Jondolar and Ayla for a while. I thought after 12 years of waiting for this book, a lot of new ground would have been covered. I would have hoped that more than 12 months of their life would have been revealed. There was just too much time spent on repetition and detail to the land. I was more interested in the characters life and what they had been doing for the last 12 years! My imagination wondered more years than the actual pages. Oh well.
Maybe the next book will complete their journey and purpose in life as told by the one who has so masterfully created them.
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